Hit or Miss
by HorseLoverTW
Summary: Abduction, betrayal, espionage, manipulation, lust, and power; things have to get worse before they can get better. Doing right never felt so wrong. -Sequel to 'Aim and Accuracy' -Incorporates seasons 1&2.
1. Gone

**Hit or Miss**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or Young Justice: Invasion. _

_A/N: Well, here's the sequel to Aim and Accuracy! I'm posting it a lot earlier than I expected to, but I'm obsessed right now with Young Justice after the latest episode, 'Depths'. It completely reinvigorated my spirit for this story. I also have to admit that Nightwing is just about my favourite hero of all time and while I'm nervous to write him, I'm also really looking forward to it. _

_As far as this story goes, you probably will need to know some of the events that took place in Aim and Accuracy to completely appreciate but I suppose it's not necessary if you want to just dive in. Timeframe wise, you'll have to bear with me, but I promise to incorporate some of season two as this progresses, perhaps sooner or perhaps later. Whether you guys like or not, well, I'm willing to deal with a few misses because I'm so excited for what's in store. Cheers!_

* * *

Artemis glared down at the practice problem, a scowl marring her bruised and still slightly swollen lower face. Wayne had apologised to her as profusely as he knew how but that hadn't taken the ache away from her nearly shattered jaw…though the kiss Dick and she had shared in the Watchtower's medbay might have done a little to alleviate the pain.

They'd broken apart but only slightly, both breathless, as he'd held her face near his, their foreheads touching. For a second more, the two had just stared at each other before he calmly and quietly informed her that he was 'going to pass out now'.

Then he had and Artemis had grinned, tucked back an errant lock of his messy black hair and made sure he was as stable as was possible while the Watchtower was still in shambles. After that, she'd gone to help the others. M'gann must have noticed the stupid look on her face though, because the older girl raised a knowing brow and had mentally commented, _Looks like someone was having an inappropriately good time_.

Artemis, helping a dazed Wonder Woman to her feet, had turned to her Martian friend and smirked. _And it's not even New Year's_.

She sighed, remembering the night, and resumed waging a silent war against the taunting equation. It was now the first day of school following their Thanksgiving break, which Artemis had spent in agonising discomfort with her mother, Oliver, and a very uptight Dinah in Star City. Not usually a big holiday in the Crock household, Dinah had gone all out and the turkey had been a golden-brown thing of sizzling, mouth-watering beauty. All the food had been amazing in fact, like something out of a cooking show, but the tension among the three adults had been palpable.

Goose, who after that night on the Watchtower no one had seen much of, had been noticeably absent from the table, which hadn't helped the situation any. Artemis hoped he was alright. He had been an ass to her but she felt like they had finally been reaching a better place before he'd taken off.

She didn't know for sure what had been up throughout the meal, but the way that Dinah seemed to dance on eggshells around her mother, and the awkward way that Oliver and her mom had refused to really look at each other, plus the extra polite way they addressed one another, led her to some very interesting theories.

She didn't have the heart to rib her mom about it when they'd gotten back to Gotham, but she knew from the comfortable way Oliver and she normally spoke and the lingering looks her mom sometimes gave him- not to mention the change that had come over both of them after that one night he'd slept over and must have carried her up to her bed- that something a little less innocent than her begged off excuse of 'indigestion' was in the making.

While some kids might have been revolted at the idea, Artemis was personally thrilled. Her mother hadn't dated anyone since the accident or her divorce, and she deserved to be happy. In Artemis's estimation, Oliver was a prime candidate in this department. And it's not like G.I. Barbie-Canary was really all that fun these days anyway.

"Careful, you stare any harder and that paper might burst into flames."

Artemis whirled around and couldn't help the goofy looking smile that spread across her face and caused her jaw to ache once more in protest.

"I guess you're right," she called, watching Dick pick up the problem set from Mr. Rebmun's desk, drop off his office pass and then settle into his normal seat beside her, her heart feeling lighter than it had in… well, since their kiss actually. "Conner would start to get jealous."

Dick pulled out his textbook and leaned over to her, ostensibly to check what page they were on, but as he did, he whispered, "I think Supes and Conner have actually reached a good place. I'm sure he'd let a little laser vision slide." He leaned back and opened his textbook, but before attacking the math with his usual gusto, glanced at her and gave what Artemis would almost qualify as a shy smile.

The corners of his lips were still grinning when he turned his eyes back to his paper and began factoring. Without looking at her, he seemed to sense she was still watching him and asked, "So how was your break?"

Completely ignoring the problem she'd been stuck on the last ten minutes- Dick would help her with it anyway when he got to it on his own- she propped her elbow on the desk and leaned her head on her hand, not even pretending to not watch him now. "Interesting," she answered vaguely, enjoying the way he was forced to look up from his work and try to read her face. "How was yours?" She wanted to add that it felt like it'd been forever since they'd last seen each other, but she didn't want to sound like one of _those_ girls- plus, this was Dick.

He hesitated a moment then replied carefully, "Once Alfred finally insisted that Bruce stay out of the kitchen, all the food came out completely traught."

"But…?"

"You know how Wally and his uncle are close with Bruce and me?" She nodded. "Well, they came over for our Thanksgiving."

"So? I mean, unless that meant that Bruce and you spent the entire meal warring with them to get enough to eat. Did it turn into a Massacre of the Little Drumstick or was it more of a long, drawn out campaign like a Battle of the Bulging Belts?"

He snorted. "No, they'd just come from their Thanksgiving lunch and Wally's uncle told us that his wife was making them dinner as they ate with us."

Artemis laughed, imagining the speedsters tucking into three giant turkeys and still not being satisfied. But then she saw that Dick wasn't smiling back anymore and asked, "Well what then?" He didn't respond immediately and a sinking feeling came over her. "Wait, don't tell me. Did Wally somehow find out?"

Dick sighed wearily. "I'm not sure, but he was definitely weird around me. Weirder than he's ever been."

Mr. Rebmun came up to them at that moment and looked over Dick's progress. "Very nice to see you back, Mr. Grayson. When we didn't see you this morning, I'd feared you'd come down with that terrible virus," he paused and then added somewhat dryly, "again."

Dick gave an apologetic grin. "I think I've finally approached the limit of the number of days I can be out as my antibody count approaches infinity. What do you think, sir?"

Mr. Rebmun chuckled. "It's good to see you used the week off to get another year ahead of my class. I hope you don't become ill again or I may have nothing left to teach you."

"Thank you, sir," Dick beamed. "Truthfully I just had to give the office my doctor's note. There was a line in there and it took a while."

As Mr. Rebmun shuffled off to Edward's raised hand waving around like it'd been stung, Artemis whispered, "And how is Dr. Thompkins?"

Dick smirked, "She wasn't pleased with Bruce's internal bleeding after his...fortunate fall, but otherwise she's good." He nodded, as though picturing the gruff woman. "She threatened to tie me to a bed the next time I'm injured when she found out about the shot. Oh, and she says hi by the way."

Artemis pretended to look over the hopeless problem once more before she glanced at him and said off-handedly "The bed-tying thing has some merit."

Dick blushed, his face flushing the colour of his Robin costume.

She ducked her head, immediately worried that she'd embarrassed him but then she heard Dick mutter sheepishly, "May-haps."

When the bell rang and the other students launched out of their seats like bazookas toward the door, Dick used the scramble as a pretext to bump into her, and his hand brushed fleetingly against her own, his fingers squeezing her palm for the briefest of instances as his eyes remained locked ahead of them.

* * *

After school, Barbara, Dick, and Artemis piled into Wayne's limo and Alfred took them back to the Manor where Barbara and she had a training session scheduled.

"You and Dick sure looked…close today," Barbara lightly commented, a little too lightly, breaking the silence that had fallen heavily between them as soon as Dick had gone up to his room to change out of his Gotham Academy uniform.

Artemis finished lacing her tennis shoes and pulled a hunter green t-shirt over her sports bra. "We are close," she supplied at length.

Barbara pursed her lips. She looked every bit the part of the gymnast she was in her form fitting yellow and black tank and black tights, her muscles strong and lean and her posture graceful as a swan even as she bent down to lace her own shoes. But the frown that marred her face was reminding Artemis of the last time she'd seen their burgeoning bat-girl in that same outfit and the anger that had been directed at her then. Unlike before however, Red bit back the tirade seemingly on the tip of her tongue and gave Artemis a tight smile and forced nod before proceeding out of the small changing room in the Batcave.

Artemis watched her go, guilt beginning to weight on her at the feelings she was nursing for their wonder boy but unable to shut them down for the sake of her new friend. Although, it wasn't as if Dick and she had sat down and actually had a conversation about what might be developing between them. And while she hoped that Dick felt the same, she knew that the history he had with Red was not something that could easily be swept under the rug with a simple kiss and a squeeze of the hand.

Dick joined them as they began stretching on the mat, but when it came time for them to start warming up, Alfred gently but firmly reminded Dick to sit out. He was still recovering from his Halloween injury and the relapse he'd had last week on the Watchtower, and any strenuous activity was likely to put him out again.

Dick groaned but heeded Alfred's orders and went to sit in front of the Cave's enormous computer. Artemis's eyes followed him as he swivelled the sleek black chair a few times before browsing some of the old villain files.

"Shall we begin?" Alfred asked them cheerily, rubbing his hands together in a way that had Artemis thinking they might have actually been safer with Wayne. "As you are aware, Master Bruce is away on WayneCorps business, but he requested that we proceed with this lesson as he feels Miss Gordon's immediate training is of paramount importance."

He had them jog a few laps around the cavernous training area before settling into some basic combat drills. Artemis had never been instructed specifically by Alfred before, even though he'd supervised her occasionally on simulations. She wasn't surprised when they found out that Alfred had a military history in the RAF as a medic.

Blocking Barbara's fists, Artemis called out to the unflappable butler, "So Alfie…oomph! okay, not cool Red… do you and Dr. Thompkins ever talk more than shop while she's here? Sounds like you two…ha! See? That's why you don't jab on that side!... you have a lot in common."

Alfred raised a brow, his expression giving away nothing as she glanced his way. "I do seem to recall Miss Thompkins letting me know how happy she was to see you smiling and getting on so famously with Master Grayson."

Only partially mocking betrayal, Artemis turned to regard Alfred and Barbara used to opening to lay her flat on the mat, the wind knocked cleanly from her lungs.

"Ugh…" Artemis moaned. Barbara gave a tight-lipped grin that got nowhere close to her eyes and offered her a hand up. "You know you're getting payback for that later Alfie."

Alfred's eyes sparkled as he gave a nod and replied, "Indubitably."

"You know who's really getting on famously- emphasis on the famous and the getting around?" Dick shouted from over at the computer, interrupting them all as he clicked on an image, enlarging it so it filled the massive screen.

Barbara, Artemis, and Alfred joined Dick to stare up in various states of disbelief and amusement at the image of Bruce Wayne- cutting an extremely dashing figure in his expensive tailor-made tuxedo- dancing a waltz with a tall, stunningly gorgeous woman with hair the same raven shade as the playboy billionaire's and a regal face that seemed etched from diamond by the… _Gods_.

"He's dancing with Wonder Woman!" Artemis practically squealed.

"But he's in Paris right now…what's she even doing there?" Dick wondered aloud, a confused wrinkle forming between his brows.

"Maybe she just wanted a vacation and they accidentally ran into each other…" Barbara murmured, a slow smile beginning to melt the frown she'd been carrying since she'd met with them at lunch earlier in the day. "In Paris! _How romantic_…" she sighed.

Dick stuck his tongue out at her sappy tone but all their conflict forgotten, Artemis smiled at Barbara and grabbed her hands, spinning the redhead around in excited circles before they began to jump a little in their glee.

"There was this one time-" Artemis confided in her enthusiasm.

"Yes?" Barbara prompted eagerly as they continued bouncing, watching as Dick found a news program's segment on the couple and played it.

"Wonder Woman told me that getting Batman's approval was no easy thing. And the way she said it sort of had me thinking that maybe they liked each other or that she liked him or something!"

"It sure looks that way! I've never seen Mr. Wayne smile like that before…" They watched the segment play out with Wayne's smile indeed looking genuine, in a way that Artemis found completely novel. As for the Amazonian Princess, well, she was always beautiful, but the way she was practically glowing in his arms- her midnight gown floating and swirling as they spun around an elegant ballroom complete with crystal chandeliers and golden candelabras, made her almost ethereal.

Dick swivelled his chair and eyed Alfred suspiciously. "Did you know about this?"

Alfred, who had still been watching the newsfeed, rubbed his chin in contemplation before responding, "I believe Master Wayne may have spoken of the Princess once or twice with a hint of affection."

"Are we talking Selina affection or Talia affection, because…"

Whatever Dick had been about to say was disappointingly cut off by the police band flaring to life. Artemis had learned that the Commissioner was friends with Batman, even though he was unaware of his secret identity as Bruce Wayne, and had made an emergency channel open for just the two of them to communicate.

"It's the Bat-signal!" Dick cried, looking almost relieved that something had interrupted his earlier line of questioning.

"Shh...!" Barbara hushed, craning her head and trying to make out what her father was saying. Alfred saved the day by finding the volume knob and raising it up a few decibels.

"…situation was called in two minutes ago. Again, the witnesses described the cinema as locked down, completely inaccessible. They heard screams and the ticket boy who managed to escape reported seeing a man enter theatre six with what looked to be a scarecrow mask. Do you copy, Batman?"

Artemis had sucked in a breath at the mention of Jonathan, but when Dick shot her a concerned look, she quickly released it and forced herself to calm.

Dick pressed down on the transmission button and lowered his voice slightly as he said, "We copy, Commissioner. This is Robin. We need an address, over?"

"Silverscreen Cinemas on Lakeside Ave. Just got report of a yellow vapour coming from the building. I would suggest all haste and precautions, over?"

Dick's jaw tightened as he must have realised their predicament- no Batman, Red nowhere near ready, himself out of service for the moment, and the team scattered about their private lives.

"Over." He let his finger off the transmission button, effectively ending the conversation and rounded on Artemis. She thought he'd try to talk her out of going before she could even plead her case but he surprised her.

"Use the rebreather mask going in, even if you don't see anything. I'll have the team there as soon as I can but even KF might take a while."

Artemis watched his eyes as a storm thundered through them to be replaced, as in the eye of a tornado, by the calm tranquillity that his presence always brought her when she was scared or anxious.

After an eternity, he finally said, his voice so low and his face so earnest that she thought she caught Barbara and Alfred looking away, "As you know, I'm not equipped to handle something happening to you, so don't let it." He let out a shaky sigh, dropping his gaze. When he looked up again, a little of the usual humour was back in his eyes. "Also, if it's too much, wait for backup or just get out of there. And remember, it's okay to leave Crane to die."

Knowing he was only partially joking- the hatred all of them felt for Jonathan after what he'd done, both to Barbara and to her was still extremely fresh- Artemis bit her lip and nodded. Dick reached out and pulled Artemis down into his arms for a brief hug. He squeezed her tightly, and as they pulled away, he placed his hands on her shoulders. "You got this," he told her, his gaze unwavering.

Barbara spun Artemis around to face her and she was immediately encompassed by a sea of red hair as the younger girl gave her a quick hug and whispered in her ear, "Give him my regards."

Artemis grinned. "It would be my pleasure."

"Come my dear," Alfred said, leading her away from Dick and Barbara and towards the runway chute that led toward the secret waterfall where Artemis had first entered the cave. She remembered the state she'd been in that morning and the cause of it all.

He showed her to a black Kawasaki, parked neatly beside another bike with the familiar bat-insignia and the actual Batmobile. As she ran her fingers admiringly over the highly buffed surface and acquainted herself with its controls, very much like her own League-issued bike back in the Mountain, Alfred cleared his throat. "Do try not to die," he told her.

Artemis grinned at the upright butler. "Do I detect a hint of stiff upperlippedness, and…what's this," she made a show of sniffing around his always-freshly-pressed suit, "Could that possibly be some concern as well, a spot of emotionality acridly wafting about?"

Alfred rolled his eyes at her but the grin around his mouth gave him away. He leaned down and gave her a warm hug. "I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," he said with a wink. "Now hurry along and suit up before that monstrous abomination to the human race hurts anymore people."

"You got it, Jeeves." She was about to run to the changing room and don her costume, probably put it on stealth-mode because she was dealing with Gotham, and Gotham required black, when Alfred put a hand on her shoulder, halting her.

He dangled a strip of fabric before her. It was shaped in the form of a bat. "I took the liberty of sewing one of these onto the uniform you kept with us. I hope you won't mind."

Artemis had to swallow the lump of emotion that had caught in her throat. "I love it," she told him.

* * *

As he supersped past the shoreline and across the river, Gotham's skyline looming before him, Wally again tried to imagine what had possessed his friend to allow Artemis to go to the crime scene alone. He hadn't stopped running since receiving Rob's call, but it had still taken him over an hour to make the trek from Central City. He wished he could match his Uncle Barry's speed, but he just wasn't there yet. He wondered if he'd ever be as he sped through the darkening streets, newspapers blowing in his wake like confetti.

The rest of the team were taking M'Gann's bioship from Mount Justice, so he hoped they'd been able to arrive before him. He knew his best bud was probably going insane at the moment, not being able to help. He pictured Rob clinging to his bike as Alfred, always cool as a cucumber- Mmm…cucumbers- calmly pried him off with a crossbar and insisted very Britishly that he head back to bed for a spot of tea and some scones, and maybe a few caramel biscuits and some p.b.&j's.

_Okay_, Wally admitted to himself that he was starting to get hungry. He began to slow down, already nearing the theatre, and popped open his food cache, withdrawing the energy gummies he stored there and devouring them.

He felt considerably better as he came to a halt, took a moment to let the speed energy settle around him, and then surveyed the scene for any sign of the bioship or his friends.

He saw neither. The theatre before him was kind of run-down looking. The neon '_l_' in 'Silverscreen Cinemas' was faintly flickering as the other letters hummed to life. The pathetically small lawn in front of the upcoming posters was devastatingly overgrown and beginning to brown dully because the winds of winter were coming, though very slowly it seemed. He saw no movement in or around the building and the lights in the lobby were off.

He hoped it wasn't a horror movie…

_Wally? Are you here?_ M'gann's sweet voice echoed in his head, startling him so bad he vibrated for a moment and felt a little of the gummy energy goo being to come back up.

Glad no one had been around to see, Wally thought back, _Yea, where are you guys?_

_Inside_, she began, but before she had even finished her sentence, Wally had dashed into the theatre and zoomed through screens one through seven, doubling back to six when he realised he'd passed them. "But there's no one here," Wally finished for her aloud, surveying the empty chairs, some of which were broken and chipped showing obvious signs of a struggle, the small puddle of blood on the stairs that Wolf was sniffing at, and the worried faces of his teammates. He slowly, far more slowly than a speedster was normally capable of, walked up to the front of the theatre to inspect an arrow that was halfway through the screen.

When he pried it out, he saw that it was a normal barbed arrow, the type that was good for penetrating flesh and muscle- the type that was lethal. Artemis hadn't held her punches with this guy. She's been fighting for her life.

And Wally had been too slow to save her. _Again_.

He felt the panic and despair he'd encountered in their failed simulation ripple inside him like a tide, coming closer and closer to carrying him out to sea.

He felt the hope that had sparked inside him as they kissed on the Watchtower die like he'd heard M'gann and Artemis's conversation that night all over again-

[Artemis emerging from the hallway that he'd assumed led off to the medbay looking tired but ecstatic in a way that she'd not before she'd left with Conner and Rob. _Looks like someone was having an inappropriately good time_, M'gann had teased, catching the glow about their archer.

Artemis, her hair beginning to come out of her ponytail and curl around her face in a way that Wally thought made her even prettier, had regaled Miss Martian with the brightest smile he'd ever seen her share. _And it's not even New Year's_.]

They of course had no idea that he'd focused in, M'gann's telepathic connection fading but not yet having receded out of their minds entirely. In that instant on the Watchtower, he'd wanted to hit something. Even if that something happened to be his best friend, currently out cold on a hospital bed. And then he'd wanted to hit himself for being so jealous, so not himself.

Now this, before they'd had a chance to sort anything out. Before he'd had a chance to tell her that he was ready now when he hadn't been before. It was cruel.

He felt Kaldur's hand on his shoulder. The Atlantean was telling him something, maybe he said they'd find her, or that it was too soon to know.

But Wally knew. He felt it in the eerie quiet all around them and the fear bristling the hairs on the back of his neck.

_She was gone_.


	2. Shadows

**Hit or Miss**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or Young Justice: Invasion. _

_A/N: A HUGE thanks to those that reviewed! It's always risky starting a new story but I'm thrilled that so many of you have decided to give this a try! I can't tell you how much I appreciate your feedback. If you have any questions, please just leave me a review and I will do my best to respond._

* * *

With the wind whipping her long ponytail behind her, Artemis flashed through the streets of Gotham on her way to the theatre. The motorcycle was practically purring beneath her, a sleek little black number that she felt complimented her new garb perfectly. Alfred's sewn on bat was illuminated in forest green against the black stealth mode of her normal costume, leaving her altered but ultimately still Artemis the Archer. Not that many people knew who that was anyway though. Dick and Wally were always ragging on her for not being more protective of her 'secret identity,' but when your hero counterpart was as obscure as Artemis's was, there really wasn't much of a point.

Between the adrenaline rush from riding the new bike- Wayne didn't skimp on his machines- and the prospect of finally being an admitted member of the bat-club, Artemis was almost able to avoid thinking about what awaited her.

There were sirens blasting and police still arriving when Artemis came on the scene at Silverscreen Cinemas. She spotted detective Bullock and the same officer Montoya that had been assigned to babysit Dick, Barbara, and her during the Halloween nightmare formal. They seemed to be in charge and were ordering other officers to canvas the grounds and search for a way inside.

Artemis debated introducing herself as she watched several of the officers try various attempts to knock down the entrance doors to no avail. They were sealed shut with something obviously bolstering them from behind, but there was no light from inside so it was impossible to tell.

With her recognizable hair and eyes visible for all the world to see, it probably wasn't the smartest idea for her to try to win over the cops who had met her alter ego only a few weeks ago. So ultimately, Artemis decided to ditch the bat-bike in the bushes and sneak onto the roof.

Batman had taught her that the real secret to stealth was not in the way one moved, but rather in the timing of when one moved- to keep all variables and all targets in focus and to be as confident as possible in your decisions. Self-doubt, he told her, was a poison not even Bruce Wayne could afford.

But it was all easier said than done, and while Artemis was a fairly self-assured individual, she wasn't stupid enough to consider that her own meager degree of experience entitled her to trapeze into places with Batman's level of speed and accuracy. So Artemis wasted a great deal of time dodging the patrolling men and women in blue before she saw her opening and was able to send a grappling arrow up onto the roof.

Fortunately, there was roof access, but all the lights inside the theatre were off so she was forced to use one of the glow sticks procured from the Batcave. It cast eerie yellow-green shades along the walls as she navigated downward to the sound of murmured screaming. She shivered slightly and quickly put the breathing mask over her face.

The Commissioner had told them that the attacks had been reported from screen six, but when she finally reached the main lobby from where the different theatre entrances and exits led, she knew the problem had magnified. Through the dim glow provided by the skylights high above them, Artemis saw people everywhere running in different directions, cowering near walls under giant promotional posters, quietly whimpering to themselves as they hid beside arcade games and behind the concession counter, crying as they frantically clawed at each other, and generally not really aware of their surroundings.

She tried to stop one poor girl, probably around ten or eleven, as she wailed for her mother but the girl grew terrified when she saw Artemis's masks and began sobbing insensibly.

Artemis quickly backed away, not wanting the girl to hurt herself, but ran into another child who was running aimlessly in their direction, his attention focused behind him on some terror that only he could perceive.

Helping the child back to his feet only earned her a kick to the head and some shrieking, so Artemis abandoned the effort and instead shot a grappling line to the ceiling in order to swing above the crowd and get to the entrance doors. In mid-swing however, something shot out and cut the line- no easy task since the material was incredibly durable- and Artemis went tumbling into the sea of frightened masses.

She scanned left and right and saw a flash of calm in the chaos out of the corner of her eye. It was a dark figure, standing serenely near a cardboard cutout of the latest Victoria Verons action thriller.

Victoria Verons was the intrepid adventurer who used her archaeological background to discover amazing artifacts and look good while doing it. She also, coincidentally, always wore her long honey-colored hair in a ponytail much like Artemis's.

Artemis was already sprinting toward the figure when they pulled a katana from the shoulder scabbard across their back and sliced the smiling cardboard face of Victoria off her shoulders. Fifteen feet away, the figure turned back toward Artemis and gave a little shrug.

"Sequels get old. Quit while you're ahead goddess-girl, and maybe you'd live a little longer."

She coldly stared at the tightly woven burlap that molded with his angular face, imagined the icy blue eyes that were no doubt laughing behind the black slashes that crossed his mask, and said evenly through her ventilating mask, "I seem to recall that you were the one that fled the last time we met."

"That had more to do with Batman's arrival than your less than terrifying ability to writhe in fear before me." He inclined his head at the insignia on her chest and Artemis resisted the urge to cross her arms. "Does your little freshman pet know you're involved with an older man?"

Eying the now familiar image of the toxin contraption attached to the right sleeve of his black-fitted jumper, she adjusted her weight and smirked. "You shouldn't talk about Batman that way… especially when he's standing right behind you." As soon as Jon's head shot up and began to glance back sideways, Artemis lunged forward, using her bow as a blunt instrument to crack him across the jaw.

He reeled and almost lost his balance, but managed to sweep his blade out in an arch that would have reached Artemis's exposed abdomen if she hadn't jumped back in time. He recovered only to narrowly miss a barrage of sucker-punch arrows as Artemis lobbed them efficiently one after the other, steadily forcing him to retreat before her. Back against the wall, he unleashed a torrent of the yellow fear toxin at her face, but with the mask on there wasn't much danger to it.

Belatedly though, she realized that his motive had been to create a smokescreen, which he used to edge around her and duck into the nearest theatre.

Bow at the ready, she ran through the carpeted tunnel after him, forced to juggle the glowstick once more as the darkness thickened around her. She slowed and cautiously edged around the wall that divided the tunnel from the theatre, unable to see anything further than an arm's length away, and began padding up the stairs between the rows of seats. She sensed more than saw the blade as it flew toward her face. She reflexively jerked back in the knick of time, narrowly avoiding having her nose and lips slit and instead earned a deep laceration to the shoulder.

Through the pain as she clutched the wound, feeling the warm, sticky blood as it pooled around her fingers and dripped to the floor, she saw Jon loom above her, a slight hesitation staying his blade. "Why are you doing this?" she cried, unable to keep a little of the hurt she'd felt since the night at Callisto from seeping into her voice. The panic he probably heard was real enough as well.

Unreadable though his face was in the dark behind the scarecrow mask, she thought she detected a slight tremor of remorse as he softly replied, "I think Xander said it best."

Artemis knew better than to waste his indecision and wisely chose that moment to jump onto the nearest row of seats, once again avoiding his blade as it zinged through the air where she'd been standing the moment before. He was right on her tail however and she heard more than saw the destruction as he bit into the chairs as she leapt from them. She made her way, crisscrossing the theatre, to the top of the stairs, the wall opposite the screen at her back and Jon a mere dozen feet below her.

The glowstick had dropped when his steel had ripped into her, so it was just dimly that she could make out his lithe form as it neared. The only light reflecting off of him was the faint glint from his katana as it whispered in threat and called out to her pulsing heart the inevitability of her fall.

Artemis wasn't about to give in though, and clinching her teeth against the stabs of pain shooting up from her shoulder, drew several of the lethally sharp barbed arrows she always reserved in her quiver, notched, took a quick, steadying breath, and fired.

Jon must have had some sort of night vision built into his mask, because he was able to see the arrow in time and dodge behind a row of seats for cover. Nevertheless, the moment he popped back up from behind the chairs, Artemis was ready with another arrow; this one coming so close that it shaved his cheek before embedding itself in the large screen beyond him. She heard a very satisfying gasp of pain that let her know it has also nicked through the burlap to grace him with a tiny crimson kiss as well.

At an impasse but aware that his better vision would eventually tip the scales, Artemis seized one of her more unusual trick arrows and let it fly toward the ceiling in a high arch. Perplexed, Jon watched it go for a second before jumping clear of the row he'd been hiding behind and rushing up toward her. She didn't have enough time to withdraw another arrow, but knew she wouldn't need to as the flare arrow detonated, releasing a blinding flash that temporarily immobilized him.

"Ugh!" he screamed, shielding his face and thus unable to see as Artemis swung her bow once more and clocked him soundly on the side of the head. He fell to his knees, his blade clacking against the stairs as it skidded down. With one hand braced on the nearest seatback, he used the other the wrench the burlap mask from his face.

His aristocratic brown hair, normally gelled to an artful display, was in haphazard, sweaty locks that tumbled into his glacial eyes, which for once looked something rather than cold as he dazedly tried to focus on her.

"What's the League up to?" Artemis asked sharply, notching another barbed arrow and leveling its point at his throat.

Gaze still unfocused, his lips curled upward in a sneer before he laughed, "He told you I had a way of scaring off the things that interested me…" He leered up at her and she felt her resolve flicker as the terror he'd assaulted her with in the alleyway outside the club that night snaked up her spine. She tasted the beginning of bile in the back of her throat as she remembered being violated, her clothes shredded as rough hands groped and beat her, all while macabre images of her sister and father tried to kill her. "Little did we know then that you were the type of girl to enjoy it…" he reveled, lapping up her fear like it was nectar.

Artemis punched him with a right hook so hard she thought she heard her knuckles crack. "You don't scare me, Jonathan," she growled, waving her newly injured fist at him, "You _disgust _me." His smirk slipped from his face and his eyes lost their dazed quality, instead narrowing to frosty blue slits. "Now I'll ask again, what is the League doing in Gotham?"

"_We're here for you of course_."

Jade stepped out from the shadows she'd melded with only a few yards to Artemis's left. Before Artemis had a chance to react, Jade twirled a bow-staff in the archer's face with lightening-fast speed. She crashed against the wall below the projector with a bone-rattling force face first, her breathing mask shattered, creating a dozen new cuts that grazed her lips, cheeks, nose, and throbbing jaw.

The blurred image of her sister's mocking Cheshire smile floated hazily down to Artemis as she sank slowly to the floor. She had just enough time to think, '_Sorry, Dick…I don't have this_," before the shadows spiraled her downward and finally engulfed her completely.


	3. Crescent

**Hit or Miss**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or Young Justice: Invasion. _

_A/N: Thanks to those that reviewed!_

* * *

The room was cool, dark, and imbued with a stubborn sort of silence, much like Dick Grayson.

Barbara Gordon watched him surreptitiously out of the corner of her eye as she absentmindedly twirled the cold peas and corn around on her plate, accidentally forming a veggie-bat mountain in the process.

"_So_…" she began casually, "How are you liking the downgrade from the Manor?"

Dick shrugged, his own dinner not faring much better. His deep blue eyes swept over the spacious apartment he'd moved into several months ago, using the trust fund his birth parents had set up for him back in his circus days. "I like it," he offered noncommittally. His gaze drifted back to her and he gave a tight-lipped smile that did nothing to lighten the mood. "Things between Bruce and I had just… gotten to a point."

Barbara knew what he was talking about. During the end of their senior year at Gotham Academy, she had sensed the growing tension between the two on their nightly patrols. On one particularly brutal mission against the Joker, Dick had been so furious with Batman's callousness toward some of the hapless henchmen in the madmen's employment, that he'd simply thrown his hands up in disgust and left her and Bruce to finish them off. She'd overheard them arguing several times in the cave by accident as well. Sometimes, she wasn't even sure what they were fighting over.

In some ways, Dick and she were very similar. They were both by-and-large pragmatically driven, and they both had dealt with great loss very young in life- her with her mother and him with his parents. But at the same time, it was hard for Barbara to understand the animosity between Dick and his adopted father. She was so close to her own dad. And even though the Commissioner didn't expressly know of her bat-eared alter ego, she felt like in a way he knew it but ignored the knowledge because he was secretly proud of her. The dynamic between the 'Dynamic' duo was far more complicated, a situation which only seemed to worsen the older Dick grew.

"Well, with you in college, a change might have been for the best. And it does seem like it's helped. I mean, I told you how he was after you left…it really destroyed him. At least knowing where you are and being able to visit you," Barbara gestured to herself, "It makes us both feel a lot better. Not to mention Tim is beside himself with getting to know you more."

Dick gave a rueful smile. "I have to give the kid props. He's taken up the Robin gig in record time."

She frowned, looked down and smoothed her skirt, trying not to appear reproachful. "You said you were fine with it. You've been helping him a lot and he's so excited every time you agree to train with him…"

He sighed, as she knew he would. "Come on, Babs, not this again. You know I love the kid like a brother, but having a little heads up from Bruce- even from you- before seeing him in my old costume might have been nice."

She felt her cheeks redden. "Gee, _Dick_. I sure would have liked to, but you didn't exactly leave us with an address before you went on your spirit journey and left the rest of us to pick up the pieces."

Dick had shown up at her door the night after their High School graduation ceremony, looking a wreck. It even appeared as though he'd been crying and that just wasn't something he did. At least not that she'd known him to during their long friendship from sixth grade through junior year to when they'd finally started dating and began a real relationship.

It had all ended abruptly that night when he'd told her he couldn't take being Robin anymore and that he had to find his own way. She'd begged him to let her go with him- and she honestly would have. Heck, if he asked her to run away with him this very minute, she still would- but he'd firmly told her that this was something he had to do on his own. She remembered watching him walk out of her room and out of her life and feeling her heart break.

Sometime later, she recalled her dad coming into check on her because her sobbing had woken him up. Of course she hadn't told him all the details, but she'd had admitted that Dick and she had broken up. He'd held her and rocked her as she tried to put herself back together, but the pain had never really left.

When Dick had suddenly strolled back into the Batcave last summer, she'd felt so many things that at first she'd thought she would be sick. She had wanted to punch him, to hug him, to kiss him senseless, and then to maybe just hold onto him and never let go again. But none of that had happened.

Instead, he'd shown them his new costume and told them about a few of the exotic places he'd been to like Brazil, Peru, and Tibet. When she still hadn't said a word to him, he'd slung the heavy bag off his shoulders, leaned casually against the cavewall and asked what classes were worth signing up for at Gotham University, the slightest of smirks on his face letting her know he was thoroughly enjoying their astonishment.

Dick had stayed with Bruce for a few weeks that summer, getting to know Tim and occasionally playing at being his old self before he'd found an apartment in Bludhaven. But very quickly, Barbara had seen that he'd changed- and not necessarily for the better. It was like they were freshman again and Artemis had just disappeared. Aside from being depressed, it was like part of the fun-loving boy Dick used to be had died.

Nightwing was serious, focused, and -if she were being completely honest with herself- more than a little breathtaking. He was all hero.

And just like the hero he swore he'd never become, he pushed her away the moment she'd tried to rekindle their relationship.

'_I'm sorry, Babs_,' he'd told her on the rooftop of Wayne Towers the night he'd let Bruce and her know he'd arranged to have some of his things moved to his new apartment. She had informed him under no uncertain terms that she wanted to come with him this time. To be with him. '_It's not you_,' he'd said mournfully, looking out over Gotham from the high vantage, the wind rustling his longish black hair and the moonlight showing off the hard lines of his face. He'd come back even handsomer than he'd left, which she hadn't thought possible.

'_You're perfect_,' he'd finally whispered, and with such sadness she'd felt her gut wrench, knowing his next words would be the dreaded 'it's me, not you' and she'd have to hit him. But he surprised her when he'd turned away from the view and regarded her in silence for a very long moment before leaning forward. She'd felt her pulse quicken, only to watch perplexed as he tenderly cupped her face and pressed his lips to her forehead in a bittersweet kiss. He'd slowly pulled back and released her, the wind feeling all the colder for the absence of his hands. '_And I'll always love you. But I'll never be able to completely give myself to you, and that's not fair- it's not what I want for you_.'

'_But what about what I want_?' she'd whispered plaintively against the wind and the tears that were sliding gracelessly down her cheeks.

He'd withdrawn and a sudden shadow came over him as though- just for a moment- he were indeed his surrogate father. '_We can't always get the things we want, Babs_."

She wouldn't give up though. Their relationship hadn't been flawless- even after she'd finally convinced him to give them a chance, he'd still brood occasionally and she knew he was thinking of Artemis or his parents or the dangers of letting someone in too far. But Dick Grayson was the love of her life, and Barbara would be damned if she gave up on that just because it was hard.

He still hadn't replied to her earlier outburst, instead opting to clear their plates and go about avoiding her as he usually did when she brought up the past. "You finished with that?" he asked, poised to pick up her bat-mountain veggie plate.

She huffed a sigh and shoved it at him. "Take it. And you know it wasn't seeing Tim in your old suit that bothered you- it's not even the same Robin design."

Dick turned his back to her as he started washing the dishes. "And what pray-tell is it that vexeth me so? Oh wait, I forgot, you were going to tell me anyway whether I wanted to know or not."

Barbara rolled her eyes and walked up beside him. He wordlessly handed her the plate he'd just finished washing and she began drying it methodically as she always did when she came over for a visit. They stayed that way in silence for a few minutes, almost enjoyably, with him washing and her drying, before she broke the spell by saying quietly, "I won't pretend to know what goes on in that thick skull of yours, but I know at least some of it is the stress that comes with everyone looking up to you again, now more than ever. With Wally giving up his goggles to focus on school, M'gann and Conner barely able to keep it together over their falling out, and Kaldur…well, you know- all the newbies look to you as their leader."

He handed her the last dish and leaned back against the sink, still as a Greek statue as he watched her drying. She fought the urge to fidget. "I knew what I was getting into."

"Then what?" she asked levelly, trying to keep the exasperation from her voice.

Dick shrugged once more and pushed off from the sink, crossing back to the table and turning up the police band he kept on constantly in the background. "No 'plaints in particular…" he said over his shoulder as he listened to the partial static. "Classes are a breeze…Cassie, Jaime, Garth, and Tim have all been making a lot of progress- I'm even thinking of letting Tim run his own squad on the next mission- La'gaan agreed to stop with the PDA in front of Conner after my talk with him, and I've finally started to make some real headway on the gang wars here in Bludhaven."

"But…?"

He shook his head, ears still trained on the radio. "I just feel like we're in pause. After all these years- all five of them- we still have no clue about the missing sixteen hours. We still haven't been able to find Speedy or help Roy dig himself out of his depression. Bruce hasn't let up on _the_ _mission_, you haven't…" he paused, and she knew by the way he avoided her gaze that he was going to say she hadn't allowed herself to move on.

She held her breath, hoping they'd finally be able to discuss it some more. And not only that, but the reason he'd given up Robin in the first place; something he absolutely refused to discuss with her.

But he ended up leaving it torturously hanging as he always did and continued with the crux they always seemed to come back to- the ghost that would never leave him, that had plagued their entire relationship since freshman year-

"…And Artemis is still missing."

Barbara bit her lip, hard enough to draw blood and opened her mouth to respond, but before she could get the words out, the police band flared to life.

'_1081 at the docks. Over_?'

'_This is unit 42, we're on Schweizer heading south toward Riverbend. ETA four minutes_."

Dick left the table and padded toward the closet off his common area- the one that required fingerprint access to open.

"A disturbance at the docks warrants Nightwing these days?" she asked archly.

"You never know," he cynically threw over his shoulder as the closet slid open to reveal his costume, utility belt, eskrima sticks, and his many other hero-ing provisions. He pulled the costume down and disappeared into his bedroom to change.

Barbara reached for her bag and pulled out her Batgirl costume. "Well in that case, I'm coming with you," she called out.

Dick emerged with his domino mask and armor still off and narrowed his eyes at her. "Suit yourself," he said at last, stepping aside for her to use his room. She rolled her eyes, letting him know that his punning was still as bad as ever, and quickly brushed past him before he could change his mind.

His room was sparsely decorated, reflecting the Spartan attitude he seemed to have picked up on his journeys. The only notable exception was the _Flying Graysons_ poster he'd retained from his old bedroom at the Manor. As she changed into her Batgirl costume- lamenting the loss of her old yellow and black outfit that Bruce had finally ordered her to replace because he felt it made her a "target" in Gotham due to its "vibrance"- she stared at Dick's bed, random thoughts assailing her mind like why he chose a black duvet, or whether he'd been the only one to enjoy the emerald silk sheets peeking out beneath it.

By the time she finished, Dick was just attaching the eskrimas to his belt and staring absently at his bike.

She could have pointed out to him that there were newer models out there, even her own League issued bike was of better quality, but she knew it was pointless. Dick was never going to let go of this particular black bike.

"Shall we?" she asked, drawing him from his thoughts.

He slowly nodded and swung onto the seat. "Turbing night, here we come," he muttered, waiting as she hopped up behind him before he revved the engine. She wrapped her arms tight around his lean waist and leaned forward as he hit the throttle. She had watched him exit his apartment with the bike a few times, using the tunnel passage that fed out into Bludhaven's massive drainage canals, but she'd never ridden through it with him before. It was slightly less dramatic than Bruce's secret waterfall entrance, but _only_ slightly.

* * *

From the rooftop overlooking the docks where the approaching siren was headed, Nightwing and she scanned the night with their binoculars. After several minutes in vain, he pointed toward a dark shape prowling amongst a row cargo containers. She focused in on the figure and saw that they seemed to have something in their hands.

"Cue time," Dick announced, the first genuine grin coming to his lips that night as he elegantly dove off the building. Barbara forgot to breathe as she watched him wait until the last possible second to fire his grapple.

She rushed to follow, landing somewhat less gracefully but still managing to use the momentum to catapult herself upward and catch up to him. The figure saw them almost immediately, whirled, fired a grapple, and shot off into the air back the way they'd come all in a matter of seconds.

"Why do they always run?" She asked no one in particular, feeling the need to say it since Wally wasn't there to say it for them, before she sped on Nightwing's heels after their mysterious dock disturber.

The assailant was dressed in dark ninja robes, their black hair pulled tightly back in a bun and their face masked. This was a bit out of Bludhaven's run-of-the-mill thug and they proved to be very good as they led Dick and she on a merry chase through some of the city's taller buildings, forcing them to leap from rooftop to rooftop and quickly crabstep over several ledges that had Barbara's muscle memory recalling her long hours spent on the balance beam in her youth.

Nightwing was gaining ground on the scrappy ninja however. Soon he was within range to start firing off batarangs. He aimed it to where the projectiles would pin the ninja to the rooftop air conditioner directly ahead of them on the next rooftop, but at the last moment, the culprit twisted in midair and dove down into the alleyway between the two buildings.

"Head to the alley entrance and cut them off!" Dick shouted to her as he leapt to do just that, gracefully swinging from fire escape to fire escape before lightly touching down on the asphalt, successfully cutting off the ninja's escape route.

He drew his batarangs on the trapped figure, with Barbara directly behind him following suit a few seconds later.

"Nowhere to go," Nightwing declared, his voice low and commanding.

The ninja seemed to have other ideas though. They- or rather _she_ judging by their figure- dropped the package and suddenly withdrew a device. It popped open and extended to reveal a compact bow. She had a barb-tipped arrow trained on them in the blink of an eye.

Behind his domino-mask, Nightwing's eyes widened considerably and he staggered a step backward as though he'd been sucker punched. "_Artemis_?" he asked so softly Barbara thought she might have misheard.

She took a closer look at the figure before them, staring hard for signs of their old friend, but it was impossible to tell with the ninja robes and the mask. Although…

There was a symbol on the mask. It was a small crescent moon, its white visible against the otherwise uniform black and stitched right at her forehead.

The ninja stared back at them, completely frozen for several seconds before she moved in a whirlwind of activity- kicking the package at Nightwing's head and then setting off a handful of smokescreens. Dick caught the package and, as standard procedure, Barbara guarded the entrance way as he propelled back to the rooftop to cut her off, but when the smoke cleared there was no sign of her.

Nightwing let out a ragged sigh and paced a few steps before swinging his fist sideways at the alley. It left an impressive dent in both the wall and Dick's hand, blood blooming against his torn knuckles to add red to his already black and blue costume.

Barbara gingerly walked up behind him and stopped just short of laying her hand on his shoulder.

He spun around and she retreated a pace. "She must have ducked into one of the buildings. We're going to canvas the area, you take that side-I'll take the back and this side," he ordered, gesturing quickly. He was about to take off when she grabbed his uninjured hand. He looked like he wanted nothing more than to shake her off but resisted.

"We don't know what's in that package that was worth stealing," she nodded to the box that now sat innocently by their feet before continuing urgently, trying to get through to him, "And you don't know that was Artemis."

"_Yes_," he ground out, "_I do_," before he firmly pulled free of her.

* * *

The ninja pulled back the mask and ran a shaky hand through the black strands that were beginning to come loose from her bun, hunkering a little further into the shadows against the payphone's side as she once more scanned the street outside. There were a couple of teenagers skating by on the corner, laughing and talking, but they moved on quickly enough. The rest of the neighborhood seemed quiet enough for the moment.

Quickly punching in the number, she waited a few tedious rings before someone picked up.

"_Took you long enough_," was the greeting she received by way of hello, the familiar catty tone driving her to frustration as the weight of what had just happened began to sink in.

"You'll never guess who I ran into."

"_Did my good for nothing boyfriend finally turn up again_?"

"Worse, I think it was a couple of my old friends."

The playfulness disappeared. "_And they recognized you? You're sure_?"

"It was Robin, wearing a new costume. He knew."

There was a pause. "_Did you still manage to 'accidentally' leave the package?"_

"Yes."

"_It's out of our hands now. Rendezvous at the hangar as soon as it's safe_."

She nodded into the dark phone booth, prepared to hang up but they added, "_Oh, and don't do anything too stupid before we talk to the boss_."

With that, she hung up and stared at the phone a moment longer, imagining her sister's face. "_Right_," Artemis said aloud, rolling her eyes before ducking out into the night once more.


	4. Hope

**Hit or Miss**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or Young Justice: Invasion. _

_A/N: 17 reviews in the last chapter! You guys are awesome! Please keep them coming. By the way, anyone know when Young Justice is coming back from hiatus?_

* * *

Shadows rippled across the hangar like wraiths, sliding in and around the half-dozen or so private planes and fueling trucks. Artemis slid amongst them, at home in the darkness. She settled herself beneath a Cessna, the high wing shielding her against the moonbeams that shone probingly down through the skylights. Wary, she leaned her back against the cold steel, pulling up one knee and hugging it close to her chest. Her bow was clasped in both hands against her shins, the grip comforting and familiar against her calloused fingertips.

_They shouldn't have been there_.

Going over the mission, she'd known there was a new hero that had taken up residence in Blüdhaven. Intergang had been complaining of his activities the past month or so and the illegal arms traders that normally worked out of Gotham's sister city had lately been shopping for a new home. Artemis had even been given the go-ahead to leave the package with him. But never in her wildest dreams had she thought it would be Dick.

They had thus far kept her clear of Gotham just to avoid the unlikely run-in with him or any of her previous associates; _she_ had kept herself clear of Gotham.

There had been many a long night that she'd lain frustratingly awake on her thin mat, the sultry tropical heat sticking to her skin and the coconuts knocking against each other outside her open window like gunshots, as she thought of him and what he might be doing.

It had been especially bad the first few months in Tibet, freezing cold and miserable in the isolated monastery, forced to play nice with Sportsmaster and tolerate Jonathan's leering presence as she was physically and emotionally pushed to the limit. She'd nearly given up halfway through her Shadows training there, but Jade had kept her going using that rare blend of threatening encouragement she possessed that had sustained Artemis during their grueling childhood until Jade had finally emancipated herself.

Once Artemis had graduated to apprentice, they'd mercifully relocated her to the island, and her frostbite had been replaced by a constant sheen of sweat and incessant mosquito bites. That had been when she'd hacked her hair off for the first time.

Jade had walked into their bunks, took one look at the lumpy, uneven porcupine that had taken nest in Artemis's once glorious golden locks, and wordlessly snatched the sheers from her hands, carefully snipping until it was somewhat evened out. '_You'd think with all the fancy tutors our esteemed boss has hired for you, she could have afforded one stylist on call_,' Jade had said.

'_I'm sure that's why she keeps you around_,' Artemis had sullenly replied, tentatively feeling out her much lighter head. '_For your fashion sense_.'

Jade had dramatically flipped back her tangled mane of dark curls and grinned wolfishly, '_That, and my unquestionable loyalty_.'

Artemis's lip twitched upward at the memory, one of her brighter one's in the past five years since she'd been kidnapped.

_But now that proverbial Cheshire cat was out of the bag_.

She hadn't at first known that it was Dick when Barbara and he had been chasing her, but the moment Red had appeared under the light of the streetlamp in her unmistakable bat-girl outfit behind the complete babe in black and blue, she'd realized. It had wiped every thought clear from her mind as though a miniature explosion had detonated inside and all she'd been able to do was dumbly stare in amazement, her body frozen to the spot.

He had towered over Red and was no doubt much taller than Artemis's considerable 5'8'' as well. He'd allowed his jet-black hair to grow out a bit and it now curled around his ears and the nape of his neck. His acrobat's physique, while previously lean and well defined, now rippled with taunt muscles that were toned to a T and showcased to perfection in his skintight new suit. Most shocking of all, he had finally grown into the enormously adorable ears he used to sport.

_And his face_…when he'd whispered her name, her arrow had shaken so badly she was lucky she hadn't accidentally sent it at them.

But she'd already had the misfortune of pulling it out and training it on them by the time these revelations had hit her. _Of course_ he would recognize her moves, they'd trained so extensively in the months they'd fought side by side. He'd been the closest thing she'd ever had to a partner, the closest thing she'd ever had to a best friend.

And when she'd been ripped from that world and chosen to walk this new life, she'd not only lost that closeness; she'd lost the hope of them maybe being something more as well.

Seeing him standing there with Barbara in the alleyway, feeling the hurt in his voice and written so plainly across his domino-masked face that he might as well not have been wearing anything over his eyes, just confirmed what she already knew.

Hope was dead to her, and would always be so.

* * *

Her ride touched down two hours later, taxiing up to the hangar as quietly as the shadow organization that financed it. No sooner had it stopped than Jade was gracefully slinking down the stairs, her mask securely in place, restlessly flicking back and forth in haughty superiority.

If her sister was the lioness, Artemis was the wane moonlight, shining only when the night allowed. She slid out from under the Cessna's wing and made herself known.

"How could you let this happen?" Jade wasted no time in asking, hand perched on hip.

"I didn't _allow_ it," Artemis muttered, crossing her arms and regarding her sister with a cool stare. "The last we were told of Robin's whereabouts, he'd been fighting in Gotham at Batman's side as always. One of Ra's apprentices even saw him last month working with the Team, taking out that mess that was Clayface."

Cheshire glanced back toward the open hatch of the plane, movement from within alerting Artemis that the boss lady had indeed come as well to extract her. "I'd keep your voice down about Clayboy if I were you," Jade whispered as she turned back to her. "That's still a pretty raw subject. And it's obviously not the same Robin. I mean, you've certainly changed," she said, waving her hand at Artemis.

And it was true. Artemis had shot up another inch or so since the last time she'd seen him and her muscles were leaner and stronger through the harsh regime of the League of Shadows induction training in Tibet. Her hair, she'd kept short- shoulder length- and after they'd begun to send her on missions, she'd been forced to dye it black to blend in and avoid recognition. Without her ninja robes and mask she still ultimately looked like the girl she'd once been, but harder, hungrier.

"You should have kept your cover better, sis," Jade went on. "Daddykins was leery enough about allowing you this close to Gotham. Losing the package AND blowing your identity…you'll be lucky if you're not back in the monastery sanding the floors and shoveling snow until you're thirty."

"Isn't dad always that one saying we'd be lucky just to reach thirty?" They exchanged a smirk, the familial sort that Artemis could now admit she'd greatly missed after Jade had abandoned them. "And don't get your tail in a twist, we have no way of knowing what old Robin is going to do. Plus, at least this way, we can feel better about the package making its way to the right hands, rather than if I'd planted it on some random hero like we'd originally planned."

Their boss- _the mistress_- completely hidden under her thick robes and hooded cloak as she normally was when traveling, elegantly alighted from the plane, gliding down the steps and stopping before the Crock sisters. Artemis bowed her head and kneeled, as she'd grown accustomed to doing countless times both in Tibet and on the island. The Mistress extended one delicate hand to Artemis and she accepted it, rising smoothly to her feet. "Selene is correct in this, Cheshire," the older woman murmured, her voice rich and throaty, accented as she was by the East. Her hidden eyes searched out Jade's. "And her oversight is not the only problem we may be facing. You have much to tell your sister."

Artemis glanced curiously at Jade. "Tell me what?"

The enigmatic Cheshire mask revealed nothing of Jade's inner thoughts, but the pause she gave before muttering, "I was going to wait until we were wheels up," spoke volumes of how uncomfortable her sister was with whatever the mistress was referring to. Artemis's curiosity, intertwined alongside a healthy dose of anxiety, was piqued.

"We may not have the time," the mistress sighed.

Jade looked skyward for a long moment before letting her eyes fall back to Artemis. "I'm pregnant," she said at last, stating it so matter-of-factly that Artemis wasn't quite sure she'd heard right.

"Excuse me?" she practically squeaked, her head reeling.

Jade shrugged, pulling out one of her sai's and spinning it about as she normally did when she grew bored or was feigning disinterest, as she was now. "That's why I'd asked if you'd seen Roy. He doesn't know yet."

Artemis batted the sai away and it fell to the tarmac with a clang. "When were you going to tell me about this? This isn't just your life you're messing with anymore, Jade!" When her sister didn't respond, Artemis clenched her teeth and hissed, "Does Arsenal's arsenal no longer contain any condoms? What the hell were you two thinking?

"Hush, Selene," the mistress murmured, raising one hand in a placating gesture and using the other to sweep back her hood, revealing the immortally beautiful face of Talia al Ghul. A chill night breeze swept the waves of shiny onyx hair from her face, illuminating sapphire blue eyes normally hidden beneath thick bangs. Her striking features, a mixture of British, Chinese, and Middle Eastern descent, glowed pale in the moonlight as she said, "Cheshire is aware of the complications this causes us all. Your temper has no place."

Artemis folded her arms tightly against her chest, still glaring at her sister. "Are you going to keep it?" she asked bluntly.

Jade drew up to her full height and put her Cheshire mask directly in Artemis's face. "_Yes_," she answered, a hint of challenge in her voice.

Artemis was as close to punching Jade as she'd been since the night of her abduction. The only thing that kept her from swinging was a low voice that called out, "_Am I interrupting_?"

Jade and she both snapped their heads around in surprise, their animosity temporarily put aside.

Talia merely nodded in greeting as Batman swept out from the shadows. "So nice of you to join us," she murmured, her composure as serene as always.

Artemis was anything but. "What are _you_ doing here? Hasn't Robin or uh…Bat-girl given you the package by now?"

Batman raised a brow at her tone, piercing her with his signature bat-stare. Chastised, she immediately felt fifteen and foolish again. He nodded back at Talia before he replying, "The Ferris Aircraft data chips were all accounted for; the operation was a success. However, we don't have a lot of time right now."

Talia gave a sad grin. "We never have, my beloved."

He pressed his lips in a thin line, and for once, Artemis knew exactly what the enigmatic Bruce Wayne was thinking of- his recent engagement to Diana Prince and the rejection and heartache that must be causing the other great love of his life. But he sidestepped the issue and urgently told them, "My alter ego is soon to be taking a very long vacation as I go off-world to deal with an intergalactic crisis connected to the missing sixteen hours."

"How long does a Bruce Wayne vacation run?" Jade inquired as she retrieved her knife from the ground.

"_Long_," was Wayne's characteristically succinct response.

"Well, this is bad on so many levels…" Artemis commented dryly, unable to count the number of ways she'd just been screwed over in the past few minutes.

Ignoring her, Talia asked Batman, "What is it you suggest?"

He narrowed his cowled eyes, looking between them. "It's time to reassess the situation," he finally stated, a grim set to his jaw as his gaze finally settled on Artemis.

She vehemently shook her head. "We've been over this more times than Roy and Jade have broken up," she argued. Jade glared at her and twirled her sai threateningly before sheaving it, but Artemis remained unfazed. "It's too risky."

"I wasn't asking," Wayne said. "Your sister is getting out and your only outside contact won't be available for an unforeseen amount of time." Artemis hated that he was always right, always collected and logical, always so damned _focused_.

Doing right had never seemed so wrong.

"Is your Robin up to it?" Talia asked, intoning the question all of them were thinking. Artemis bit her lip.

"The Robin you were informed of is my newest protégé," Batman said. He turned to Artemis once more, "_Your_ Robin left Gotham the summer before last. He came back under the name Nightwing and moved to Blüdhaven several months ago."

"Do I want to know what happened?" she asked quietly.

"Why don't you ask him yourself," he told her before looking up and addressing the skybeam high above them. "He followed me after dropping off the package and has been listening to everything we've just said."

Artemis felt the temperature in the hangar noticeably shift as a dark figure glided down to them, rolling gracefully as he hit the ground. She purposefully turned her back before he stood however, coldly regarding Batman. In a hushed tone, she scathingly said, "And you let him, knowing we'd be left with no other choice than to do things your way. _As always_."

She didn't mean to sound so bitter, but she couldn't help but resent the casual way Batman and the others were treating the sacrifices she'd made. And it wasn't like Batman's mission or Jade's future child wasn't important, it's just that they didn't seem to think her life was worth that much anymore.

But Artemis supposed that's what she got for living so long in the Shadows.

Wayne stared at her, long and hard, but didn't respond so Artemis ignored him and stole herself, gathering the resolve necessary to turn and acknowledge the hardest of her sacrifices.

_Nightwing_.

It suited him well. The armor was lightweight and looked flexible enough to accommodate his wide range of motion. The blue bird of prey rose on his chest like a phoenix, no doubt a partial allusion to his reimagining.

Unlike in the alleyway, his face now was a blank-slate behind the domino mask as he coldly regarded the four of them. Artemis considered taking off her own mask but in the end decided to leave it on, her last defense against the emotional avalanche headed their way.

"_This_ isn't at all awkward…" Jade muttered from her side.

Artemis shoved her sister away and cautiously took a step forward. "How are you?" she asked softly, the air behind her words dying in the vacuum of tension that permeated the dimly lit hangar.

When he spoke, it was directed at both her and Wayne. "On average, I'd have to say I've had better days… Then again," he crossed his arms and slowly walked toward them. "It's not every day you find you've been lied to by not one, but two of the people you trusted most in the world."

Artemis swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat. "I never meant to hurt you. Things just got out of control…"

"I wouldn't know," Dick said sharply, cutting her off. He glanced at Talia. "I would assume from _her_ presence here that it has something to do with the Shadows."

"How do you know Talia?" Artemis asked, looking between the two.

"Her father kidnapped me a long time ago as part of his plot to force Batman to be his heir. And I don't seem to remember her complaining about it too much at the time."

Talia stiffened. "That was a different time and a different place. I am on your side right now, Mr. Grayson."

He snorted. "Yea, I think out of the four of you, I'd actually have to award Cheshire with the most points for honesty."

Jade looked him up and down. "Then as an honest woman," she began, her tone bemused, "May I just say that I'm definitely approving of your… _wardrobe_ changes."

Artemis rolled her eyes and hissed, "_Hormonal much_?" to Jade as Talia interjected, "You have every reason to doubt me, but what my father is planning is something I cannot allow to pass. You've always known my ultimate loyalty to lie with him, but not at the expense of all else."

"So let me guess," Dick said, coming to stand directly in front of Artemis with his arms crossed. He stared down at her, his gaze an intense mixture of anger and something less definable. "You're playing spy in Bruce's chess match against the Light and from what I've heard, team undercover shadow needs me to sub-in now because Batman has to go stand trial in intergalactic court while Artemis's safety, Wonderland here, got knocked up."

Jade tilted her head. "You did _not_ just call me Wonderland."

She made to step toward Nightwing but Wayne held out his arm, effectively blocking her. "I think that about covers it," he told Dick.

"Not quite," Nightwing muttered darkly before brushing past Artemis and decking his former mentor square in the jaw, so hard that Wayne staggered backward and fell to the ground. Dick stood over him as the Dark Knight rubbed his bruised jaw, quietly staring up at his former sidekick but making no move to retaliate or otherwise respond. That stayed that way for several moments before Dick turned to the rest of them and said, "Alright, I'm in." He reached into his utility belt and tossed Talia a card. "Call me, beep me, when you need to reach me." He leaned toward her slightly. "And if you don't, I guarantee _my_ reaching you will go down far less pleasantly." He breezed by Artemis without so much as a glance, shot off his grapple and exited the way he'd come.

Artemis blinked several times and it wasn't until she felt Jade shaking her arm that she realized she'd been calling her name.

"Huh?" she asked.

"I said," Jade repeated, looking as annoyed as was possible with her mask on, "He's certainly not the same."

Artemis hugged herself, about to agree, when she felt a small slip of paper against her hand, tucked inside her ninja belt. She pulled it out and unfolded it. It read simply, '_Trinity's teaching chemistry tonight in one hour.' _

"No one can stay a boy wonder forever," Artemis said softly as she refolded the message and stuffed it in her pocket.


	5. Regret

**Hit or Miss**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or Young Justice: Invasion. _

_A/N: The next chapter might take a little longer to come out so I wanted to be sure to post this before I left. Not too sure about how this one turned out but I'd really appreciate your feedback. My sincerest appreciation to those that reviewed the last chapter._

* * *

_February 21__st__ 2016_

Nostalgia clung to the lab, smelling of bleach and a hint of lemon. The memories it brought were bittersweet for Artemis but she didn't pause to examine them as the heavy wooden door closed behind her.

She leaned her back heavily against it, her hands behind her clutching the knob as she surveyed the dark and empty classroom. Her eyes were barely able to make out the rows of tables with their sinks and burners; a stack of beakers laid out neatly on the ends. The silence fell unnaturally to her ears, the clatter of glass and the laughter at singed eyebrows ringing dimly from the past.

"You're late."

His voice was deep, like the one Wayne put on when he wore the cowl. It emanated from behind the teacher's desk, and when she squinted, she could make out his lithe form seated casually in the swivel seat, feet propped up and his hands behind his head as he tipped the chair back precariously.

"Next time I'll get a pass," she said, slowly untethering herself from the door. Though she couldn't see his eyes, she felt them raking through her as he watched her come and stop before the desk, stripping her of the speech she had planned.

She resisted crossing her arms. She knew he was poised like that on purpose; that he meant to throw her off, but at the same time it also informed her what she'd known before coming- that the note was not the only thing he'd left. She was willing to bet her favorite compound bow that there was a tracer on Jade, letting him know that she had indeed come alone.

She flopped her bow in front of him with a little more force than was warranted. She'd imagined this meeting so many times in her head that the reality of him sitting there so casually was a little annoying. Hadn't he set this up? If his coldness at the hangar hadn't been a front, then was she in real danger? She put her hand on her hip. "_So_," she began archly, "What sort of chemistry are we learning tonight?"

Behind the domino mask, she could almost imagine him raising a brow as he responded, "That would depend…"

She rolled her eyes. "Consider me in suspense and cut the crap, Grayson. I have exactly ten minutes."

"_Grayson_, is it?" His gruffness faded, replaced with mild amusement as he regarded her, cocking his head to the side in a manner that was so achingly Robin she had to dig her fingernails deep into her hip to stifle the childish urge to run and hug him. But she remained where she was. She still wasn't sure of the game they were playing at tonight.

When she didn't answer, he slid his feet off the desk and slowly rose, his eyes never leaving hers though both had their eyes hidden behind their masks. He rounded the desk and approached her with measured, deliberate steps, and she drew a shaky breath when he finally stopped, his body now between her and the exit and less than a foot separating them.

Up close, he seemed even larger than he had in the hangar, almost looming over her. "It _depends_," he repeated, his voice low as though they were exchanging gossip in the back of the classroom as they used to, "On the type of reaction I'm going to have, after you tell me exactly what happened five years ago that made you leave Gotham, your mother, and the Team."

_He hadn't said himself_. She felt the omission was a telling statement, showing the lack of regard he either presumed she had for him, or that he now held for her. She wasn't surprised that the time had changed him, but the bite stung.

The room was becoming very warm, and seemed to be shrinking in on itself as he stared at her, hard; so expectantly, that she finally had to look away. But as soon as she did, his hand was on her chin, pulling her face insistently back. His thumb ghosted fleetingly along her jaw before he gathered the cloth of her mask.

Forgetting to breathe, Artemis allowed him to slowly draw back her ninja cowl. The cool air of the lab prickled against her warm skin, sending a shiver down her neck and through to her fingers.

It was hard to tell, but she thought his gaze softened briefly as he studied her face, probably taking note of the way it had hardened, the new contrast the black hair brought… the pale narrow scar that ran diagonally through from her upper lip to her lower. If she were him, she might have cringed, but he just took it all in, silently. She idly wondered if he would see any semblance of the girl he used to know, if he cared.

Finding her voice, she managed to quietly say, "This doesn't help me much on gauging your reaction…"

Wordlessly, he grasped her hand and brought her fingers to his temple, bringing her palm to rest against his smooth cheek, his hand atop hers, holding her in place. She felt him grin against it as he replied, "Help yourself."

They were so close together, Artemis wasn't sure she would be able to deal with Dick's gaze directly, but she wasn't going to let her anxiety show. Carefully, knowing Batman's cowl sometime's had a shocker in place to prevent others from removing it, she peeled his domino mask off. It wasn't far removed from the type he used to wear as Robin and she was forcefully reminded of the time in his room, a lifetime ago, when he'd placed one on her own face.

Humor blazed within his blue eyes at he looked down at her.

Entranced, it was a few moments before she realized her hand was still cradling his cheek. She felt a flush blossom across her own cheeks but steadfastly kept her hand where it was as she told him, "_This_ suits you." It was the closest confession of '_I missed you_' she could put to words at the moment.

But really, nothing she could have said would fill the void their years away had wrought inside her. After a certain time, the gnawing ache had just become part of her. So simply telling him she had missed him would have been like saying Superman was strong or Wonder Woman beautiful. The obviousness of it would have wrung hollow to her own ears.

He smirked before deftly dragging her hand away from his face. He didn't release it, however.

Instead, he clasped her hand within his own and pulled her after him toward the long table where they used to be lab partners. He gently pushed her into her old seat and then took his opposite her, finally releasing her hand. "I'm here to learn, Artemis," he said honestly, looking her in the eye. "I'm done with wanting to believe you had your reasons. I need you to explain them to me, _now_."

"Wayne told you…?"

"_Of course he didn't_," he muttered with a scowl. He drew back and sighed before reluctantly going on, "He missed my graduation and showed up late…or I guess early the next morning to inform me of our latest mission." The anger grew as he went on, "I told him enough was enough, that I couldn't keep doing the same routine while you were still missing, dead in a ditch or…_worse_," he said, glancing at her Shadows uniform. "But then Bruce told me you were safe. I remember thinking, 'I don't know this man, I can't know him,' before I gave him the ultimatum to either tell me where you were or watch me leave."

"I bet that didn't go over too well…" she said softly.

He gave an empty laugh, an ominous sound that caused her to wince. "Well, you know how _open_ and _nurturing_ Wayne can be. I packed my bags and left that night. Went around the world twice, learned a few tricks, and came back ready to accept your disappearance." He shook his head, a rueful smile spreading across his face. "And then you had the nerve to show up in _my_ city, apparently stealing something valuable no less."

She pursed her lips. "You already knew I'd left the package with you on purpose. I'm on your side. Just…undercover. Stealthier." He frowned. "_Deep undercover_," she persisted.

"So how did it happen?"

* * *

_November 29__th__ 2010…_

Wind and the sound of propellers howling were the first things Artemis noticed as she slowly became aware of her surroundings. She tasted copper on her tongue and her head felt extremely groggy. She was lying on her stomach with her bare cheek pressed against cold metal and her hands tied tightly behind her, they were numb from lack of circulation.

She remembered punching Jonathan at the theater and then being knocked unconscious by Jade…

She cautiously cracked open one eye, a large wooden crate blocking her direct vision but from the cylindrical metal hull, the hum of turbines, and the steady vibration coming through the floor below her cheek, assumed that she was probably on board some type of cargo plane. She painstakingly wiggled her body until she could see beyond the crate.

There was Jade, still wearing her Cheshire mask, talking with Jonathan and a figure in ninja robes. She carefully wiggled still closer, able to make out bits and pieces of what they were saying.

"Out…sight," Jade seemed to be hissing at Jonathan.

He crossed his arms, not looking very intimidated until she pulled out her sais and laid the tip of one at his throat. Though nonplussed, he held up his hands and backed off. "…wouldn't have been able to if…thanks I get."

At that, Jade kicked him out of sight and then jerked a finger, indicating for the other figure to follow him. Jade watched them go for a bit and then turned and stalked over to where Artemis was lying.

Artemis closed her eyes and regulated her breathing as best as she could.

She heard Jade's padded steps halt directly by her head. "I actually didn't lie to you in the theater, little sis," Jade whispered, her mouth suddenly near Artemis's ear. "Although our loving father set up the meet and greet, I came with the express intention of not leaving without you."

Artemis stopped pretending, her eyes flashing open as she craned her neck up to glare at her older sister. "How oddly dutiful of you, Jade. Any chance you're going to let me know what they have planned?"

Jade sat down on the floor near Artemis, Indian style with her elbows on her knees. "_Well_," she mockingly began, "Dad was oh-so-thrilled when I told him of how you'd been in secret communication with me for the past few weeks, _begging_ to be admitted into the Shadows. I can only assume he thought now was the optimal time to test your determination and see if you were serious."

Artemis clenched her teeth and glanced back toward her bound hands. "I think he's going to notice that I'm not exactly coming of my own free will."

"You will be when we land."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Artemis knew it was hopeless trying to reason with Jade, especially when her sister was as crazy as she appeared to be at the moment. But if she could just somehow get her away, she might have time to get to her feet, smash the crate and use the sharp wooden edges to cut her bindings. Then she could…

"_Artemis_," Jade murmured, her voice low and almost tender- or as tender as Jade ever got. "I know I told you it was every girl for themselves once, but I need you now. I know what the Light has planned. I may be a sociopath, but that's only because I think most people are ridiculous piles of walking meat."

"And you need me to what? Commit you?"

She narrowed her eyes. "No sweet sister, don't you see? They're committing you now whether you like it or not. I'm giving you the choice to make this nut house your own, to work in the shadow of the Shadow to save your precious planet."

Artemis lay there speechless. Jade was cruel, devious, and vindictive, but one thing she was not was selfless.

"I can't even begin to describe how much I mean this, but '_huh_?"

Jade took off the Cheshire mask so Artemis could see her rolling her eyes. "Simply put, I might like stealing from people and kicking their ass, but for that to happen, there must be people. If the Light succeeds, not so much. I've decided to stop them from the inside and I need a…sidekick." A condescending smirk had spread over her countenance as the last part came to her.

"The Justice League…"

"Would have distrusted me, arrested me, and failed to stop what's coming."

Jade had seriously lost it. "You know you can't keep me your little partner-hostage forever. Batman is the greatest detective on the planet. He's going to find me."

"Perhaps, but that won't be because you let him," Jade said, continuing to smirk annoyingly.

Artemis knew she shouldn't but she asked anyway, "And why's that?"

"Because he's also one of the greatest playboy billionaire's and I'm sure you wouldn't want his secret coming out, not to mention your _boyfriend_, the boy blunder's."

Artemis opened her mouth, closed it, opened it once more and then finally barked out a laugh, "Bruce Wayne as Batman? Have you been smoking the caterpillar's pipe?"

Jade scoffed. "Please, you've been around that little bird more lately than you've been around mom. It didn't take a genius to see the resemblance. You're just lucky Crane isn't as smart as he thinks he is." She glanced towards the hatch that Jonathan had stepped through, "Straw for brains, that one."

"So that's it?" Artemis was nearing laughter as that feeling of your head going below water began to drown her. "_Wow_… decisions, decisions."

"I thought you'd be pleased. I'm all on the side of angels and puppies now. And more importantly, I'm allowing you to share in my momentous endeavor."

The maniacal laughter spilled forth by way of a sob as Artemis let her head fall against the metallic flooring once more. "Yea, Jade. This is me, thrilled to tears."

* * *

_ February 21__st__ 2016_

Dick leaned back, eyeing Artemis skeptically. "You made up that part about Jade recognizing my identity."

"_Really_, Dick?" she muttered. "Oh, and I told you that your little hair trick wasn't going to fool people forever."

"At least you've finally taken my advice about the blonde…though I'll admit I miss it."

She bit her lip, trying to read him. There was amusement in his eyes, but only on the surface. Beneath, there still seemed to broil some sort of tempest. Hair would grow back, the person she used to be, the things she'd been forced to do in the past few years…these things weren't so easily washed away. Just like his suspicion.

"So when did Bruce first get in contact with you?" he asked.

Carefully weighing her words, not wanting to further estrange Dick's relationship with his adopted father, Artemis replied, "…about a month after I arrived at the monastery, our section leader- the cloaked woman I'd seen that night at Penguin's warehouse in Gotham- who by that time I'd discovered was the Shadow leader Ra's al-Ghul's daughter, Talia, summoned me to her private quarters for a 'check-up'."

Aside from the brutality of the regime she'd been run through in Tibet, the check-ups had probably been the most painful aspect of her initiation. At the end of every week, she'd been crammed into a room the size of a closet with Jonathan. As the closest thing the Shadow's had to a psychiatrist, Jonathan was in charge of evaluating the new recruit's mental state and gauging their loyalty and breaking points. Jonathan had of course used these opportunities to torture her ruthlessly. Artemis had quickly learned that her special place inside included that dark theater and her barbed arrow going a few inches more to the left, sinking itself right in the middle of his smug scarecrow face.

But the check-up with Talia had been different and Artemis saw no reason to bring up what Jonathan had done to her with the man that Dick had become. It would either enrage him or cause him to pity her, and he was already going to have enough to deal with, so she instead said, "She slipped me a note from Batman that said he could have me out in a week."

"It was you…" Dick murmured in shock, his eyes reproachful. "He was going to free you but you decided to stay…" He pondered this revelation for a few moments before he looked up and spoke imploringly, "You must have suspected that it was some kind of test – you couldn't have already learned that Talia was on your side."

Artemis lifted her chin to keep herself from avoiding his eyes. _And this, the most unkindest cut of all_. "Before that night, I never suspected that Talia was any different from the other shadows…but I could tell the note was genuine. I know sorry doesn't mean anything to you now, but it's there if you want it."

He shook his head in disbelief. "I never thought you'd be the one to follow in Bruce's footsteps…"

She gave him a sad, empty grin, "More like his shadows." She could see how upset he was with her and foolishly reached a hand out to try to comfort him but he shied away from it. "After discovering Talia was an ally we could use to keep in periodic contact with Batman it just seemed to be the smartest thing. Our lives are so little compared to the lives of everyone who will be affected if the Light has their way. If I hadn't stayed - had selfishly snuck out - I never would have been able to forgive myself."

"Well I wouldn't want you to regret anything, Artemis," Dick bit out sarcastically.

Now Artemis was getting angry. "You don't get to make me feel any more guilty about this than I already do. You think I don't already have regrets? I have enough to sink Infinity Island, all the way down to Atlantis, and then sink that too until we submerge into Vernes' territory and burn up in the white-hot center of the world." She took a breath. "But even twenty thousands leagues under, I would still do the exact same thing because I'm with my family, finally doing good for once, in a place where we can help."

"How short your memory must be to forget everything Jade's done to you, what these people are capable of. They don't change, they just get worse."

"I never said Jade had changed. She's as conniving as ever. But I know she's fighting the right fight now, if not always for the right reasons. And she's my sister, the only family I have at the moment."

"Only because of the insane choice you've made," he muttered, disgust wrinkling the corners of his mouth as he abruptly stood from the chair.

Artemis stood as well. "You agreed you'd do this."

"That was when I thought Bruce had been hiding you all this time. I didn't know it was _you_ keeping yourself away."

She folded her arms as he made for the door. "It doesn't change anything," she quietly told him as he passed her.

He turned to face her before opening the door, "It changes everything."

* * *

_February 28__th__ 2016_

Barbara threw a batarang and then had to duck as one of the ninjas aimed a cross at her face. She made a side-sweep, trying to get his legs out from under him, but he jumped and withdrew two sais.

"Duck, Batgirl!" Cassie yelled a second before she flew over Barbara and slammed into the ninja, both knifes clattering to the wooden floor as the ninja went sailing back to crash through the paper-thin walls.

Cassie grinned at her, dusting her hands. "You ducked really well for a bat!"

Barbara straightened, pushed Cassie out of the way of the ninja that had been a hairsbreadth from digging his katana into the young demigod's skull, and knocked the assailant out with a vicious uppercut-roundhouse combo. "Experience has taught me its benefits," she told the red-faced Wonder Girl.

The two ended up making quick work of the remaining ninjas in the eastern end of the compound. But the monastery Nightwing had briefed them on before the mission was fairly extensive and their two squads were spread pretty thin. Especially with Miss Martian and Superboy both having to secure Speedy's capsule in the lower level.

That was where the fighting was thickest, as the ninjas seemed reluctant to release their prize. Barbara had only caught a glimpse of the original Roy Harper before she'd had to take up the incessant fighting they'd been at now for the past hour, but it was enough to tell her that he was definitely the worse for wear since Cadmus had gotten their claws into him.

Behind the frozen glass, he'd looked so pale and skinny compared to Red Arrow, but he had also looked peaceful and boyish in a way their Roy had never been. At least as long as Barbara had known the broody, temperamental archer.

She found Tim and Garth in the next section, holding their own- Tim with his stick and Garth as a panther. He was in the process of pawing away another assailant when he spotted her and flashed a row of pearly fangs in a somewhat creepy smile. She left them at it and next exited out into the central courtyard that normally would have been quite beautiful.

Snow was lightly dusting the bright blue flowers and emerald grass that stubbornly clung to life in the bitterly frigid mountain air. It was twilight and the moon was on the rise, a pale crescent sliver that perfectly matched the symbol on the mask of the ninja standing unsurely by as Cheshire and Nightwing dueled one another between the rocks and frozen fountains.

The figure stood silhouetted against the darkening sky, snow-capped mountains in the background and the stiff breeze catching the folds of her robes and black ponytail.

If she _was_ Artemis, surely she would do something instead of just watching the two fight? Dick was more than a match for the assassin, but he seemed to have incurred a nasty slash to his left arm and was definitely favoring it as Cheshire pressed him towards the low rock wall that served as the monastery's barrier on its cliff side.

Barbara ran past the idle ninja and leapt at Cheshire, attempting to give Dick an opening. However, the assassin somehow sensed Barbara's presence and slid to the ground like water, leaving Barbara to flail for a second before crashing stoutly into a surprised Nightwing. They fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs, Barbara on top of him.

Cheshire whirled her sais and leapt, prepared to sink them in Barbara's back, but Dick shoved Barbara to the side and caught Cheshire with his legs, propelling her far into the air using her own momentum. Barbara could only watch as she flew almost gracefully over the barrier and quietly disappeared into the soft white unknown.

The idle ninja sprung to life with a scream, "JADE!" before running to the rock wall and peering down as Barbara and Dick did the same.

The drop was massive, no ordinary human could have survived it. Perhaps Dick, but only using his aerial skills and the special suit he occasionally wore with the wings connected to his sleeves. Though the ground below was very difficult to make out with the snow and rocks, Barbara couldn't see any sign of Cheshire.

The ninja rounded on them, ripping off her mask and revealing Artemis's face, though older and leaner with a nasty white scar across her lips. There was rage unlike anything Barbara had ever seen from her former friend etched into her steely grey eyes as she coldly growled at Nightwing, "_How could you_?"

Dick reached a hand out, and Barbara could read the apology on his lips, but before he could utter the words, Artemis jerked away. "Don't!" she snapped.

"Artemis," he began, clearly at a loss, "I…

"Do you feel satisfied now? Do you think this is going to make me want to rethink my choice?" She angrily hissed, circling him. "Or was this just about getting even for whatever wrong you think I did you?"

Barbara had no idea what Artemis was talking about, but at that moment, Red Arrow, Tim, and La'gaan ran up. Roy grabbed Dick around the throat and in a feat that would have seemed impossible given the recent downward slide the hero's physicality had taken as his depression had worsened, hoisted Dick several inches off the ground.

"WHAT DID YOU FUCKING DO!" Roy screamed as he shook Dick before finally throwing him to the ground. Tim rushed to his side as La'gaan cried out in alarm. Dick pushed himself up on his elbows, an agonized expression coming across his domino-masked face. Red Arrow ignored him and turned to frantically scan the cliff side. "I was going to ask her to marry me…" he was muttering under his breath. "She was the only good thing I had going in this sick, warped world…"

Artemis clenched her teeth as she watched him pace along the barrier. "If you loved her so much you should have been there for her these past few weeks. She was pregnant."

Roy stopped in his tracks, his head spinning around to Artemis. "What?" he whispered in disbelief.

A brief flash of something, perhaps remorse, flickered through Artemis's dark eyes but she slowly repeated, "_She. Was. Pregnant_," punctuating each word painfully.

Roy broke down and fell to his knees, sobbing. Barbara tried to reach out to him after a few moments, to offer what comfort she could, but it instead acted as a catalyst, prompting Roy to lunge at Artemis. "You should have told me!" He screamed at her in a fit of rage and pain. "You should have stopped them! I saw you watching." Artemis dodged him and he broke down once more. "You should have stopped them," he quietly sobbed.

"You were the one who should have been there for her all along," Artemis told him coldly, glaring down at him.

"I never meant to…" Roy pleaded against the howling wind as he looked up at Artemis, not really seeing her as he began to rise shakily to his feet.

"We never do," Artemis said darkly before lashing out at him with a powerful front kick, pushing him over the side to follow Cheshire.

La'gaan and Tim gasped as the latter jumped up from Dick's side but they were both further away from the ledge than Barbara herself. She sprinted to where he went over and reached down for her grappling, but Artemis was in her face when she looked up. The grey eyes narrowed and her former friend whispered, "He deserved this," as she clocked Barbara on the side of her head using her bow. Stunned, Barbara fell to the ground and blearily watched Artemis gaze down at her for a moment before disappearing.

Tim and Dick helped her to her feet and they huddled together for a moment, shivering as La'gaan alerted the rest of the team.

The wind continued to howl.


	6. Charades

**Hit or Miss**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or Young Justice: Invasion. _

_A/N: Some of the reviews you guys left completely blew me away. I hope this chapter lives up._

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_February 28__st__ 2016 ~ Tibet_

Yellow light poured out from the dingy windows of Kalsang Tavern, distantly visible through the swirling blizzard. Shivering, Artemis hugged the woolen poncho tighter about her robes and trudged through the remaining snowdrifts toward the sound of shouts and laughter.

The door opened with a loud creak, bringing a rush of icy air into the warm pub, Artemis quietly slipping in on its heels.

Inside, most of the patrons, barded in similar bulky layering, were clustered around a man and a thickset woman engaged in some sort of drinking contest. The woman looked to be winning as the man was beginning to sway in his chair. The onlookers were creating the ruckus Artemis had heard from afar and placing their bets. Only a few bothered to look up as the door slammed shut.

Her gaze swept the tables until she found three figures huddled in the back; their faces veiled beneath heavy hoods, mugs that had long gone cold sitting forlornly before them. Artemis made her way over to them, and one of the three glanced up, his face illuminated under the hood by the crackling fire nearest their table.

His green eyes reflected the blaze but his voice lacked spite as he said, "You're a real bitch, you know that?"

Artemis took the empty chair next to him and a long draught from his cup. She made a ridiculous face at the taste of it before shoving it back toward him and peering at the figure to his right. "Well," she replied slowly, "I learned from the best."

Unconquerable black hair peeking out of her hood, Jade's face caught the light as she raised her chin. "I don't know, it's possible you may have exceeded me on this one."

"Oh please, you were probably going to wait to throw the baby in his lap before telling him you were pregnant." She turned to glare at Roy. "And _you_, you probably hadn't even considered the possibility all those times the two of you were…

The third hooded figure held up a hand and said, "Hey, I hate to intrude on your family squabble, but shouldn't we be making with the distance about now?"

Artemis softened as she turned to him. "You're right. I just had to make sure they were okay," she turned and put a hand over Roy's mouth before he could interrupt her, "Yes, even you, Goosey."

He knocked her hand away and rolled his eyes. "Would it have killed you to give me a little heads-up, like, 'oh, by the way, we're going to be faking your death tomorrow so you should be prepared to fall a hundred feet and then be caught bridle style by one of your former best friends."

Artemis shrugged and grimly responded, "It just might have."

* * *

_February 21__st__ 2016 ~ Gotham_

Dick opened the door of the chemistry lab, looking as though he were leaving her but instead, he stepped aside, revealing a dark silhouette standing in the door frame.

Immediately on guard, Artemis withdrew her bow, extended it, and notched an arrow, all in the time it took her to notice the man's shock of dark auburn hair illuminated by nearby exit signs that were spread throughout the hallways of Gotham Academy.

"_Wally_?" she asked incredulously.

"_Artemis_?" he answered, equally unsure as he tentatively shuffled toward her.

Her suspicions confirmed, she let her bow drop to the floor and pounced on him with a vicious hug.

Lost in her excitement, she was only dimly aware that he had filled out quite a bit and grown a few inches since she'd last seen him. She pulled away and regarded him at arm's length for a moment, taking in his familiar freckled face and awestruck green eyes.

Artemis quizzically turned to Dick who was still standing by the door, watching them with his arms folded and his domino mask securely in place once more. "Not that I'm complaining, but what gives? I thought my deciding to live the double agent life had '_changed_ _everything_,' she mimicked in a low, overly dramatic tone. "Why drag Wally into all of this?"

"Standing right here…" Wally murmured.

Ignoring him, Dick came up to Artemis side. "It _does_ change everything," he repeated, arms still folded as though he were trying to contain himself. "I had invited Wally because he's no longer an active part of the Team. He could have gotten you out of here and into hiding before Talia or Cheshire knew what had happened."

"And now?"

"_Now_," he sighed, "We're going to have to make this work."

* * *

_February 28__th__ 2016 ~ Tibet_

"The plan," Artemis told the three of them seated around the grainy wooden table, beer stains and what was probably a few smears of blood flavoring the surface, "Was to get the two of you off the grid for the sake of your unborn child while at the same time, promoting my position within the Shadows by appearing to have killed one of my former teammates. Not only was it risky and more than a challenge to try find you and inform you of the plan," she said, looking at Roy, "But we also couldn't guarantee that your reaction would look real enough. And it had to." Jade and Dick had scrambled around for a while until they not only had members of the team for an audience, but many of the Shadow's acolytes as well. Both sides had witnessed the show.

"With a sister-in-law like you, a guy doesn't need enemies…" Roy muttered.

Artemis bit the inside of her cheek and stood, "Well Goose, Maverick can't watch your back forever." She withdrew two envelopes and tossed them at Roy and Jade. "Take good care of Alice Hatter, Mr. Nick Hatter." Roy regarded her warily for a moment before ripping his open and dispelling three passports, a driver's license, and several rolls of money onto the grimy tabletop.

Jade rose to her feet, her chair falling back with a clatter that was enveloped by cheers as the man who'd been engaged in the drinking contest finally succumbed, having literally been drunk under the table by the woman.

Startled for a moment that Jade was actually going to hug her, Artemis took a step back but Jade roughly grabbed her by the shoulders. "Watch your back around the Citadel," she urged, her dark eyes shining intensely, "Don't let Crane corner you again and don't you dare let dad win."

Artemis swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat. "I won't."

The sisters stared at each other for a long second before Jade finally relinquished her.

Artemis nodded farewell to the other two, glanced once more at Jade, and then quickly made her way out into the blizzard, her anxiety beginning to grow as she considered the task before her. Her absence amongst the other surviving acolytes from the monastery would probably be noted soon…

She had only gone a few paces into the ankle high snow however, when the tavern's creaky door opened and the yellow light from inside spread its warmth across her back. She spun around to find Wally behind her, adjusting his hood back into place from where it had blown back.

Expectantly, she turned to him but before she could so much as open her mouth to ask him what he was doing, he was suddenly in front of her, his arms tightly enfolding her, his mouth soundly kissing the words from her lips. Snowflakes whirled around them, sending crisp bites of sensation along her cheeks and nose as he deepened the kiss, his tongue warm and inviting.

Their breath frosted the air around them as they finally broke apart. "I just had to tell you that," he said with a small, sad grin.

Artemis had to blink a few times, clearing the snowflakes and stars from her vision. "_Noted_," she whispered.

His arms hugged her closer to him so when he spoke again, she felt as much as heard him say, "_Please don't do this_."

She gently disentangled herself from him. "I have to," she told him, the cold seeping back in, chilling her blood as it stoked her resolve. "Please make sure they get away safely, and," he was already shaking his head, anticipating her next words. She swallowed a gulp of the cold mountain air, its chill burning her throat, "Take care of yourself."

She wouldn't be able to stand the kicked puppy look in his brilliant green eyes, so she abruptly turned to go. He grabbed her gloved hand, his own bare and probably numb with cold, but she refused to look back at him and gently tugged. He slowly, reluctantly, let her hand slide from his grip.

Artemis waded into the cascading white wilderness until the warmth of the tavern and the heat of his kiss seemed nothing more than a distant memory.

As the snow began to blur with the mountains and the mountains with the sky as far into the dark horizon as she could see, Artemis glanced down again at her GPS to navigate her way back to the Shadow's primary Tibetan fortress, the Citadel.

Every inch of her frozen and numb, her thoughts inescapably turned back to the night in the chemistry lab once more. The memory of their parting there had hijacked her imagination for the past week, as relentlessly frustrating as a summer storm, as painfully fresh as a lost love.

* * *

_February 21__st__ 2016 ~ Gotham_

Their plan resolved, Artemis prepared to leave the chemistry lab, Nightwing and Wally still discussing Wally's part in the mission. And she had to think of him as Nightwing now, she reminded herself.

He would never be able to forgive her for choosing to abandon them. And if she were him, she probably wouldn't either. After all, the wound Jade had left all those years ago when she'd run away from their family still hurt as deeply as ever.

Plus, Talia couldn't afford to keep their plane waiting at the hangar for much longer, and no doubt Jade was chomping at the bit to give Artemis a good tongue lashing for her impetuousness.

Ironic though that might have been, it would have to wait a little longer as Nightwing, his voice rough, saw her slipping out and called, "_Wait_…"

Cautiously, Artemis turned, trying once more to gauge some hint of what lay behind his infuriating mask, berating herself for not holding onto it when she'd had the chance.

But all she could read was his frown.

"Could you give us a minute, Wally," Nightwing quietly asked the redhead.

Wally looked suspiciously from him to Artemis before shrugging. "Go ahead," he muttered sourly, trying to fake indifference and failing spectacularly.

"_Yes_?" she prompted once Wally had stepped out into the hallway.

He looked decidedly uncomfortable as he mumbled, "It's…um…I…" he glanced away briefly before going on as though he'd just been forced to fly the white flag, "It's just that Sirius has missed you so much. What am I supposed to tell him?"

Artemis felt her heart give a surprisingly painful gasp of joy as a helpless grin spread across her face. Unable to stop herself, she flung her hands around his shoulders and jumped, her legs wrapping around his waist. The startled 'o' Dick's mouth had formed left as he wrapped his arms securely below her bottom, taking her weight. "You tell him that he's been greatly missed," she mumbled into his neck.

"Oh good," he whispered back, leaning his chin against her shoulder. "You see, he's been really worried that you'd forgotten about him…"

Artemis pulled away slightly. "Of course I haven't! I think about…him…all the time."

Dick hoisted her a little higher, letting her slowly slide down his torso until their faces were even. "He'll be very pleased to hear of this," he murmured, a small smirk coming to his lips as he closed the distance between them.

Artemis pulled away though, grinning wickedly at his confused frown. "But you really have to tell him that those dust bunnies under your bed weren't real. They only hopped around with him because he was stirring up the rank air down there."

Frown disappearing, Dick chuckled, "Rank air in Alfred's domain? I think not."

Artemis grinned, imagining the elderly butler's disapproving scowl as Sirius the rabbit bounced gleefully around Dick's childhood room, playing with the dust bunnies and spreading them all over Alfred's freshly washed and vacuumed rugs.

Sobering, she asked, "How's Alfred doing?"

"A little older and sadder since you left, but Tim- the new Robin- has been giving him plenty to worry over."

Silence reigned for a minute, golden and fleeting. "Thank you for understanding," she said at length, wishing once again she could see his eyes.

Dick shook his head. "I'm not sure I'll ever understand the way Bruce and you think, or that I'd even want to. But I get what you're trying to do, and I trust you…" he dipped his head and briefly brushed his lips against her throat before focusing his gaze on her face. "What have you heard about Kaldur?"

"Hmm?" Artemis sighed, the sensitive part of her neck still tingling deliciously where his mouth had been. The question slowly came to her through the fog and she frowned. "Just that he joined Black Manta. I still don't believe it though. Why do you ask?"

"Because I trust you. I trust Wally. And I trust him."

"I almost wish you hadn't told me that," she muttered.

"You're not going to break, remember?" he bowed his raven head once more and kissed the other side of her throat, his mouth hot as it lingering there this time, "I'm not equipped to handle anything happening to you." His breath warmed her skin, radiating heat through her neck down her stomach and into… other places.

She couldn't muffle the quiet moan that escaped her lips. "You _really_ have to stop doing that," she breathed out in a shaky sigh. "And you weren't wrong about my associates earlier. They do only seem to get worse. Even if things next week go off like we planned, there's no telling what they're going to do."

He dragged his mouth up to her ear and wryly whispered, "You could always choose option A like I originally planned, and have Wally take you to a safe house." He playfully nipped at her earlobe, "I could even pay you a visit sometime."

Artemis drew away from him a few inches and laughed, "I do believe you're trying to seduce me, Mr. Grayson."

He smiled at her, his gaze settling on her mouth and it was like old times. Or rather how Artemis had envisioned their old times going. "I don't _try_," he cheekily replied before leaning in, his intent clear.

"Are you two done _yet_?" Wally asked pointedly, ducking his head into the lab. An unsettling blast of cool air accompanied him, as though the ghosts of Tommy and Trinity were howling against his intrusion.

Or perhaps, Artemis thought as Dick and she quickly pulled away from each other, they were trying to warn them against making a similar mistake. Love might be forever as the student had once pleaded to his teacher, _but so was regret_. It had haunted Tommy into putting that bullet in his temple only a dozen feet from where they now stood.

Artemis already had enough haunting her.

* * *

_February 29__th__ 2016 ~ Infinity Island_

Jetlagged, frostbitten, and tired enough to go to bed that night not complaining of her threadbare thin sleeping mat, Artemis shuffled zombie-like through the castle's stone hallway toward the section reserved for the acolytes.

And she had almost made it too, when Jonathan chose that moment to round the corner and spied her.

"Come with me, Goddess-girl," he commanded, looking annoyingly clean and refreshed in his black shirt and kaki pants.

Artemis inwardly groaned. "You haven't debriefed the others yet…" she tried to argue as he ushered her toward his 'office'.

"So you have the honor of going first." He smiled, a threatening promise buried within his chilling gaze. "How very special you must feel."

She grimaced and took her seat opposite his cramped desk, scooting the chair as far away from him as she could get it in the closet-like space.

He stacked a few papers and filed them, leaving his desk as immaculately ordered as he was. Then he put on his glasses and carefully studied her, all while taking his sweet time by Artemis's estimation. The florescent lighting glared off the glasses' surface as he said, "First, I would like your account of losing the package in Blüdhaven. Then I would like to discuss what happened yesterday in the monastery in Tibet, where your former teammates attacked one of our most well-hidden bases, stealing back the real Roy Harper's body."

He plucked his notepad from out of a drawer, pen poised as he looked up at her and mockingly asked, "And I believe you lost your sister and killed her pet clone yesterday as well, _how does that make you feel_?"

Though he'd likely enjoy it, Artemis was about to tell him where he could go when the door flew open, saving her the trouble of telling Jonathan where hell was located.

Because being in Sportsmaster's presence was as closely akin to hell on Earth as you could get, particularly if you happened to be Artemis.

Lawrence Crock folded his impressively large arms across his muscled chest, for once not wearing his hockey-mask, so his penetrating blue eyes were free to ridicule all they laid sight on. This fortunately only included the Scarecrow as he peered inside the room, made all the more pathetically small by his tall stature.

"You can do your briefing with her tomorrow, Crane," he ordered and gestured for Artemis to follow him. He didn't even wait for Jonathan to reply before marching off down the hall.

Artemis stayed seated long enough to flash Jonathan a grin so cloyingly sweet, she hoped he'd choke on it, before jumping up to trot after her father.

"I used to put your sister in the penalty box many times, and for far less petty actions than that," he said once she'd caught up to him. He mirthlessly chuckled, "I knew she was strong enough to take it." Leading them toward the center of the compound, he went on, "I was always too easy on you, Artemis."

Having spent years developing the expressionless mask she so often had to wear in his presence, Artemis kept pace with his long strides, saying and revealing nothing.

"That's why you strayed, but you proved that I underestimated you when you came back and showed enough resolve to be accepted into our organization. You already know that the League can be very demanding. You know that failures are rarely tolerated. And yet you've now failed twice in one week." He paused outside the gold-plated double oak doors that led to the Caribbean keep's audience chamber. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

Not bothering to hide her anger now, Artemis said in a clear, ringing voice, "I'm just sorry I wasn't able to kill Jade's murderer too. But Nightwing deserves a crueler death than the fall I gave Red Arrow."

Her father clasped her shoulder and sharply nodded his approval. "That's just what I'm counting on," he said before releasing her and bulling his way through the heavy doors. Artemis, her heart sinking, slowly followed him, kneeling beside her father in front of Ra's al Ghul, who was seated on an ordinary concrete bench, somewhat out of place amidst the rich tapestries and plush red carpeting. Talia stood off to his side and gave a curt nod to both of them.

"My greetings," the Shadow Master murmured, indicating for them to rise. "We are all grieved by Cheshire's passing. Please accept my condolences."

Sportsmaster dipped his head before he put an arm around Artemis's shoulders. "Jade won't be easy to replace, but Artemis has been training in her sister's shadow her entire life, it's time she stepped up."

Ra's al Ghul intently studied her for a few seconds as Jonathan had, but where Jonathan's gaze had been haughty and wicked, this one was filled with knowledge and certainty, his bottomless black eyes boring into her before he suddenly grinned. "Good," he pronounced at last as though something had been decided. To Sportsmaster he said, "Black Manta is ready. Have you assembled your team?"

"They're ready."

"And you're aware that the Justice League will be closely monitoring the launch site?"

"They won't know what hit them," he answered, grinning wolfishly as he gave Artemis's shoulders a squeeze.

Artemis managed to make it all the way up to the castle's privy, locking the door behind her, before she slid to the ground, panting, each of her thoughts screaming at the other for what was to come and what might be lost.


End file.
